


The Road Not Taken

by chemiclord



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 18:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemiclord/pseuds/chemiclord
Summary: Five years into the aftermath of Fodlan's Great War, the victors and survivors muse on what could have been and how it could have all played differently.





	The Road Not Taken

**The Road Not Traveled**

It wasn't exactly uncommon for people to approach the Tailtean Memorial on _any _given day. Whether they were secretly harboring sentiments for the fallen kingdom of Faerghus, or mourning all those that died that day, or any other reason, hundreds if not thousands of pilgrims paid tribute to the various shrines, or read the names that were etched onto the base of the central statue, bearing the likeness of a monk in prayer for the dead.

So two figures in heavy brown cloaks slowly climbing the steps leading to the monument didn't get much notice. It was a cold evening, so the clothes were not at all out of place, and they were merely the last of many that day, as the 29th of the Great Tree Moon was a very popular one for pilgrims; as it had been every year for the last five, since the battle that marked the end of the royal line of Faerghus.

But for the two nondescript travelers, this visit meant considerably more. It was a constant reminder of the heavy cost that they had demanded of people that didn't deserve to pay it. It was the only way either could being to cope with the guilt of what had needed to be done. They took a right at the monument, down a much less traveled path onto the recovering battlefield, then even off where any other boots had tread, onto the grass as it descended into a lower section of the valley.

The pair had a specific destination in mind well off the beaten path, their steps deliberate and carrying a confidence that they knew exactly where they were going. Unless you knew exactly where it was, you likely would have missed it... a single white stone, partially buried in the dirt, before a ruined bunker remaining from the battle.

The place where the final king of Faerghus fell, a marker that was _not _meant for the general public.

The smaller of the pair knelt down, locks of white hair escaping the her hood as she set down a small bundle of forget-me-nots just in front of the marker, over where four other such bouquets had been laid in the years before. The fingertips of her right hand brushed with a feather's touch across the bare stone of the marker, and her breath caught in her throat.

The woman stood, taking several deep breaths to steady herself before she finally let her hood fall back. Edelgard von Hresvelg fought back the moisture that was starting to form on her cheeks, and said quietly, “It's never going to get easier, is it? I would have thought... after five years...”

The second pilgrim put an arm around her shoulders, and revealed his identity as Edlegard's companion, tactician, and consort. “That it doesn't is proof that you haven't lost your humanity.”

Edlegard shivered, a mixture of the chill and her conscience. “It had been so very easy at the time, with blood in my eyes, and a cold practicality of what needed to be done. Now... not even the passing of time can fade the image of his lifeless body, face down in the dirt, and put there by my hand.”

Then both turned their head slightly behind them, and Edlegard declared angrily, “You could have chosen a better time to approach rather than be so rude as we are trying to pay respects.”

She was referring to a trio of cloaked pilgrims that had been following her and Byleth, identified even as they tried to keep their distance, and had now closed ground.

“So, which are you?” Edlegard asked. “Are you sympathizers to the old kingdom? Alliance rebels? Or have you slithered out of the dark?”

“You will _never _purge us, emperor of glass,” the lead of the trio hissed, tipping off that he was indeed of Those Who Slither in the Dark. “And you have now put your head on a platter.”

“Emperor of glass” had become their preferred epithet for her, insinuating that her claim to power was fragile, and her hold weak and easily shattered. She had always found the insult amusing; for if her control was indeed made of glass, why hadn't any of her enemies successfully broken it in the last five years?

So it was not surprising that she scoffed indifferently at the snake that was addressing her. “Out of respect for the dead, I will give you one opportunity to walk away. I'd suggest you take it.”

The slithering leader did not comply, not that Edlegard expected him to. “You don't seem to understand that _we_ are prepared for a fight, and _you_ are outnumbered.”

Only then did one of his escorts speak, and it was a voice that the leader was not expecting, as he recoiled in astonishment. “Oh, you are correct that one side outnumbers the other...” he said darkly, then pushed back his hood to reveal himself as Hubert. “But I'm afraid the numbers are three against two in _our _favor.”

And finally, the last of the trio spoke, such a lighthearted, jovial tone that it startled _everyone_. “Well, funny that...” and as the hood dropped to reveal Claude, the exiled former leader of the Leicester Alliance, he offered a lopsided grin and finished, “I'd say it's more like four against one.”

It was not often that Hubert was taken unawares. In fact, Edlegard could count the times she had seen it in the decades she had known him on one hand. So it was both astonishing and hilarious to see how flummoxed he was. “How... when... what are _you _doing here?”

Claude gestured lazily behind him, in the general direction of the more public grounds of the monument. “Well... I had just arrived at the grounds, saw a rather seedy fellow trying to tuck _far _more weapons than he could have possibly needed under his cloak, figured he couldn't be up to any good, and dealt with him.”

The actual _villain _present thought perhaps he could take advantage of what looked like a break in the attention of his foes. But he didn't manage to take one step towards Edlegard and Byleth before Hubert grabbed him by the neck, and spun him into a cross from Claude with such fluid cooperation that it looked far more practiced than it could have possibly been.

And Claude picked right back up with his explanation as the snake dropped unconscious and face down in the cold dirt. “Anyway, then I saw you and _this _weasel start to stalk yon...” he made another lazy gesture in Edlegard and Bytleth's direction, “And figured I might as well tag along and see what in the foresaken abyss was being plotted.”

Eldegard's eyes narrowed, and she said accusingly, “You're not supposed to be here until next month, yet you just _happened _to slip through all border sentries and stumble upon all of us by chance.”

Claude shrugged, “Again, you think _far _too highly of my talents.” His expression and voice shifted so quickly from whimsical to earnest that it gave Edlegard whiplash. “I never had the opportunity to pay respects to Dmitri, and this was the first time I could afford being away from the throne. So I stepped away a week early hoping to get that chance. If serendipity seems to favor me, it's more because I give it ample opportunity to do so rather than some grand intent on my part.”

That made far more sense than Edlegard had expected. While her intelligence in Almyra wasn't nearly as robust as she would like (no doubt due to the machinations of the man addressing her), she _did _learn that the succession of the last king had _not _been smooth, and that Claude had only recently managed to secure the support he had needed to shrug off the last challengers to his rule. She knew this because one of the first things he did was reach out to arrange the summit for next month to make official the unofficial discussions agents between them had been negotiating.

Hubert cut in, pulling the now mud caked fiend to his still staggered feet. “I'll have this man brought to interrogation in Arianrhod. I doubt he's more than some low ranking survivor, but I can't ever discount the possibility that one of the heads of the snake has slipped through our fingers.”

Edlegard nodded, and the dark mage warped away with a crimson flash and ascending threads of energy, leaving Claude to gesture with a sideways tilt of his head, “Still having troubles with resistance?”

“Remnants of an old movement I take no extent of delight in purging,” Eldegard sniffed with disdain. “My uncle was the heart of that beast, and he underestimated me at his peril. His small legion of bootlickers haven't been the same, though they think they make me quiver.”

She then shrugged and said, “It is all small protest, either from old, decaying knights of the Empire who decide that their last moments should be dying in the name of their fallen king, or minor lords of former Alliance territory who seem to think they can try and play loose with the new laws to maintain their positions of prestige.”

Claude's right eyebrow cocked at the last bit, and he offered, “Want me to sit down with them while I'm here? I no doubt could have quite a bit of clout to stamp out that nonsense.”

Edlegard shook her head. “No need for that. They try, but they fail. You had excellent minds supporting you when you left, and they have done nothing but exemplary work maintaining order for me.”

Then the emperor's attention turned back to the stone marker, and she said, “But every so often I wonder how things could have been done differently.”

That led to all three of them examining the blank marker like it was etched with the most important document in history, Byleth's arm returning comfortingly across Edlegard's shoulders. Claude quietly asked in regards to the fallen king, “Was there another way?”

With a deep breath, Edlegard shook her head, “Not by that point. He had been so poisoned by Rhea that he was not much more than a rabid beast at the time I put him down.”

Claude nodded, “I had uncovered _some _of what Rhea was up to, but at the same time I didn't think she'd have been _that _monstrous.”

Again, the emperor shook her head, “She was merely better at hiding it before she ordered Fhirdiad to burn. The amount of information I uncovered about her in the aftermath of war was staggering. She had _always _held humanity in some degree of contempt, no matter how justified she thought it was, and had _no _qualms manipulating the life of a just-born child as a vessel to try and revive her mother.”

Byleth stiffened at the invocation, and it was Edlegard's turn to offer comfort. While Rhea's journals claimed that Byleth had been stillborn, the emperor considered it a distinction without a difference at best, and a convenient lie for the archbishop's conscience at worst. Edlegard doubted that Byleth being alive or stillborn would have made much difference to the Immaculate One at the time.

The emperor shivered again, and admitted sorrowfully, “But even then... even with her, I can't help but abuse myself wondering how it could have been different.”

Claude and Byleth shared pained expressions, the tactician silently confirming Claude's suspicions that this was not a new internal demon she was struggling with. A subtle shake of Byleth's head as he tightened his hold conveyed the message to Claude that he should let her just talk it out.

“Sometimes, I still see his enraged eyes, and I wonder if that could have been me, if things were different.” She leaned into Byleth, and said, “What if you had chosen a different house? Would _I _have been the rabid animal, lashing out in rage? Would our roles have been reversed if _I _had been the one to suffer defeat? Would I have been any more noble?”

Claude shrugged, “Guess it's a good thing he didn't choose the Golden Deer then! We mostly turned out okay in the end. It would have been awful to be the only one standing after the rest of you turned into frothing dogs!”

Edlegard leveled a scathing glare at him. “It's been five years since I last questioned if sparing you was the right decision. Don't make me question it again.”

The Almyran king held up his hands to ward off her ire. “Sorry! Sorry! Bad joke, I know. Still haven't grown out of that flaw, I suppose.” He then backed away, lowered his arms, and said further, “Maybe, given different circumstances, and a slightly less capable support structure... yeah, maybe _you _would have been the monster. Abyss take me, _I _might have been a monster if my closest confidant was someone like Hubert.”

Edlegard revealed that she in fact had a weapon, a rather sinister looking silvery hand axe underneath her cloak. “One more disparaging word, and we'll see if you can negotiate without a tongue.”

Claude's eyes widened, and Byleth diffused the tension by hugging Edlegard around the waist and forcing her cloak closed in the process. “The worst you can say of Hubert once you get to know him is that he is... overzealous to whatever cause he chooses. There are worse failings in life.”

“Alright, alright,” Claude said in surrender. He needed to stop trying and crack wise with the emperor. She did _not _have his sophisticated sense of humor. “Point is, we can think back on the road not traveled all we want, but it will never change the path we did. It's something to consider as we look forward, not to get lost looking back.”

Claude looked up to the darkening and cloudy sky. “Maybe there _was _some miraculous path that we all could have taken that would lead to all three of us here on this day, but honestly? I doubt it. Goddess or whatever watching us, I had tried just about _all _scenarios _I _could think of. When you have _that _many people who _want _war _that _badly, there's little any handful of people, no matter the power and influence they hold, is going to stop it forever.”

Then the Almyran king lowered his head and shrugged. “So, I guess... in a way... I'm glad it was our generation who got it over with. For whatever reason fate decreed, we were the ones that stopped kicking that can down the road and faced it head on so that the next generations wouldn't have to. As much as it hurts to lose old friends or family... _our _children won't have to bear the weight of a thousand years of cumulative sin. And that's a good thing, right?”

Edlegard had forgotten just how silvery of a tongue Claude could possess, and it was clearly something he had polished in the years since they parted ways. She was going to have to keep her guard up in this summit in case he tried something sly.

He then spied down Byleth with wiggling brows and said scandalously, “Speaking of children... should you two be out and about so recklessly, or is the next generation of emperor already scampering somewhere in Enbarr?”

“No,” Edlegard retorted with a bared lip.

“Oh,” Claude replied with a stammer, “I would have figured...”

“You figured wrong.”

Byleth offered the young king _some _mercy. “Lucia is just past her third birthday if you must know. Alvan is nearing his first. We didn't bring either on what promised to be a fairly long and cold journey that they wouldn't understand yet.”

Claude gestured back and forth between the both of them with a finger. “I'm lacking a very critical piece of information here, of that I am certain.”

Eldegard betrayed a smile, “They will not assume the throne, for the throne will end with me.”

The Almyran king cocked an eyebrow. “Go on...”

“Once this accord between our lands are signed, and the Locket is broken open peacefully, I will declare the end of the Imperial line. From there, the Council I have formed, which includes two of your former house, by the way, shall assume roles of regionally elected leaders that will dictate the laws of the land, with me as its Premier to serve as a tie-breaking vote as well as administrate how those laws are to be executed. Then, once I have deemed my time in _that _role has been completed, the council of regional leaders will collectively choose the next premier, and Blyleth and I and our family will have a justly deserved time of repose.”

Claude hummed approvingly, “You've... somewhat borrowed from the old Leicester Alliance method of governing, with no small number of amendments I'm sure. I suppose you'd rather have to, considering how much value you put on success and authority by merit rather than crest, huh?”

“Indeed,” she said with a sharp nod. “So, with that in mind, since you are already here, should we get to business on our way?”

Claude shook his head and showed a vulnerability that surprised Edlegard. “You know that talk about looking back? I never really got the chance to. If it's all the same, could our travel to the Monastery just be old schoolmates catching up and remembering better times? I've... missed that opportunity.”

Edlegard actually had a wonderful natural smile... when she allowed people to see it. “Very well. Perhaps that _would _be a better use of time. Business can always be told to keep its place.”

Byleth asked wryly, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”

Claude chuckled, and Edlegard turned on her consort swiftly, “Still your tongue. I am _more _than capable of taking two if need be.”

That didn't stop Claude from offering a hearty handshake behind Edlegard's back as she took the lead, returning in the direction of the monument and civilization.


End file.
